Removable Sanitary Film for Disposable Cup Lids

ABSTRACT

A removable annular food safe barrier film with anterior oriented pull-tab and posterior oriented tab adapted to sealingly engage, conform and adhere to the top wall surface of a disposable molded plastic cup lid when properly placed thereon by means of a low cohesive or repositionable food safe adhesive. The primary purpose of this barrier film invention is to prevent or minimize bacterial or pathogen cross contamination of the top wall surface of disposable cup lids of the drink through type by means of direct contact with unprotected, contaminated, unclean or unsanitary human hands. Cross contamination is most likely to occur during the process of affixing a disposable cup lid to a disposable cup by commercial retail foodservice personnel.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application filed Nov. 9, 2017, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to a removable, annular food safe barrier film with anterior oriented pull-tab of sufficient length to be readily grasped by human hands and a posterior oriented tab, adapted to sealingly engage, conform and adhere to top and side wall surfaces of a disposable molded plastic cup lid of the drink through type. The design of cup lids of the drink through type generally include an annular mounting portion for engaging the lip of a disposable cup, an annular sidewall extending upwardly from the mounting portion and a top wall having a drinking opening formed in it. In the preferred embodiment, the top wall of the lid has a recess formed in it adjacent to the drinking opening to accommodate the upper lip of the user (hereinafter referred to as “cup lid”). More specifically, to an annular food safe barrier film with anterior oriented pull-tab of sufficient length to be readily grasped by human hands and a posterior oriented tab, adapted to sealingly engage, conform and adhere to top and side wall surfaces of a disposable molded plastic cup lid of the drink through type. The primary purpose of the barrier film is to prevent bacterial or pathogen cross contamination of the top wall surface of cup lids caused by direct contact by bare, unprotected, contaminated or unsanitary human hands during the process of affixing a cup lid to a disposable cup to minimize spillage during transport or consumption of dispensed beverages.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Disposable hot dispensed beverage (e.g. brewed coffee, cappuccino, espresso, hot tea etc.) cups made of plastic, paper or other composite materials are used throughout foodservice industry segments including but not limited to Quick Service Restaurants, Fast Casual Restaurants, Convenience Stores, Donut Shops, Food Trucks and Coffee Shops. To prevent spillage during transport or consumption of hot dispensed beverages by customers, a plurality of cups lids including those of the drink-through type are affixed either by employees or customers to said disposable hot dispensed beverage cups.

Drink-through or pucker type cup lids employ a drinking orifice adapted to enable drinking from the cup without removal of the cup lid. The lips and mouth of the user are permitted to encompass the drinking orifice. The drinker's mouth and lips do not necessarily make contact with the rim of the cup. Such lids conventionally include an annular mounting portion for engaging the lip of the cup, an annular sidewall extending upwardly from the mounting portion, and a top wall having a drinking opening formed in it. In the preferred embodiment, the top wall of the lid has a recess formed in it adjacent the drinking opening to accommodate the upper lip of the user.

In use, the aforementioned cups lids are affixed by hand to disposable hot dispensed beverage cups either by employees at the conclusion of the customer facing purchase process or by customers who find they require a cup lid after making the purchase of a hot dispensed beverage but prior to departing the premises. In the latter case, such cup lids are available either upon request by the customer from an employee or can be found at on premise self-service kiosks/stations that are stocked with cup lids and other post purchase disposables (e.g. napkins, stirrers) and condiments (e.g. sweetener, creamer).

Based on foodservice employee practices, the aforementioned lids are affixed by hand either by employees or customers. In a vast majority of instances employees are not wearing single use disposable food gloves (despite the fact that Health Departments in a number of U.S. state and local jurisdictions as well as the US Food Code 2013 recommend or require the use of single food gloves during the preparation and handling of food and beverage) when affixing cup lids to disposable cups. This results in unprotected, bare hand contact with the top wall surface of the cup lids including that area where the customers' mouth and lips are expected to come into contact with the drink-through portion of the cup lid. Furthermore, there is no evidence to suggest that employees are more likely to use single use food gloves when handling cup lids in the course of restocking on premise inventory levels of cup lids to par levels resulting in additional instances of bare hand contact with cup lids. In the case of customers making use of on premise self-service kiosks/stations to take and use a cup lid, incidental contact with lids other than that which a customer intended to use is common place resulting in cup lids to be used by other customers have come into bare hand contact with other customers who are ill, or whose hands may be dirty, or otherwise contaminated.

A food borne illness is a disease caused by consuming food or drink contaminated with harmful bacteria, parasites, viruses, or chemicals. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that each year roughly 48 million people gets sick from a foodborne illness, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die. Research has shown adequate hand washing and glove use are necessary to reduce bacterial or pathogen cross-contamination from human hands with high bacterial loads making hand-washing and single use glove use the most important means of preventing the spread of infection. Unfortunately, not everyone can be counted on to wash their hands properly when they should be including but not limited to after using the bathroom, tending to a sick person, blowing their nose, coughing, or sneezing, touching money, smoking, touching their head or face or emptying the trash or wear single use disposable food gloves 100% of the time when circumstances, regulation or best practices dictate. Given the above, incidental bacterial or pathogen cross-contamination between bare human hands and cups lids is a virtual certainty.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a removable, annular food safe barrier film with anterior oriented pull-tab of sufficient length to be readily grasped by human hands and a posterior oriented tab, adapted to sealingly engage, conform and adhere to top and side wall surfaces of a disposable molded plastic cup lid of the drink through type. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to eliminate or reduce bacterial or pathogen cross contamination resulting from direct contact with top wall surfaces of disposable cup lids of the drink through type with unprotected, r unwashed or unclean human hands.

The barrier film can be made from a variety of materials that are food safe, including plastic and can exhibit a variety of properties including being transparent, translucent, holographic, printable, or thermochromic.

The barrier film can sealingly engage, conform and adhere to the top wall surface of a disposable molded plastic cup lid of the drink through type by means of a low cohesive or repositionable food safe adhesive.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top view perspective of prior art of a drink-through type disposable plastic cup lid.

FIG. 2 is a top view perspective view of the removable, annular food safe barrier film with anterior oriented pull-tab and posterior oriented tab prior to affixing to the top wall surface of cup lid.

FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of the removable, annular food safe barrier film with anterior oriented pull-tab affixed to the top wall surface of a cup lid illustrating how it prevents contact with top wall surface of a disposable molded plastic cup lid and human hand.

FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of the removable, annular food safe barrier film with anterior oriented pull-tab affixed to the top wall surface of a cup lid illustrating removal of removable, annular barrier film with pull-tab by human hand.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail several specific embodiments, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered merely an exemplification of the principles of the invention and the application is limited only to the appended claims.

Referring now to FIG. 1, is an example of a prior art disposable molded plastic cup lid of the drink through type for disposable beverage cups. Such lids are typically a one-piece thermoplastic structure made from a thin sheet of polystyrene or any other suitable thermoformable organic material. They includes an annular rim portion adapted to sealingly engage and conform to the lip of the cup when properly placed thereon with an annular sidewall extending upwardly from the mounting portion and a top wall having a drink through aperture formed in it. In the preferred embodiment, the top wall of the lid has a recess formed in it adjacent to the. Examples of disposable molded plastic cup lids of the drink through type for disposable beverage cups are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,589,569, 5,398,843, 7,591,393 and 6,929,143, the entirety of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

Referring now to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, one embodiment of a removable, annular food safe barrier film with anterior oriented pull-tab, generally designated by the numeral 1, is shown having a main body 1, with anterior oriented pull tab 3 and a posterior oriented tab 5 to adhere to the vertical side wall. The removable, annular food safe barrier film with anterior oriented pull-tab 1 sealingly engages with the top wall surfaces of a disposable molded plastic cup lid of the drink through type for disposable beverage cups 2 effectively forming a barrier across the annular top wall surface and the drink through aperture 4. The removable, food safe barrier film with pull-tab 1 for cup lids may be made from a number of materials that promote food safety, including, but not limited to plastic. The removable, food safe barrier film with pull-tab can adhere to the top wall surface of a disposable cup lid by means of a repositionable food safe adhesive 6. The removable, annular food safe barrier film with anterior oriented pull-tab 1 prevents contact by human hands 7 with the top wall surfaces of a disposable molded plastic cup lid of the drink through type for disposable beverage cups 3 during the process of affixing a disposable lid to the rim of a disposable cup 8. To remove the annular food safe barrier film with anterior oriented pull-tab 1 customers grasp the anterior oriented pull tab with thumb and forefinger of their hand 7 and pull upwards. This causes the removable, annular food safe barrier film 1 to disengage and separate from the top wall surface of the cup lid 2 whereupon customers can drink directly through the uncontaminated drink through aperture 4. After the removable, annular food safe barrier film with anterior oriented pull-tab is completely removed, it can be disposed of. 

1. A removable annular food safe barrier film with anterior oriented pull tab of sufficient length so as to be readily grasped adapted to sealingly engage and conform to top wall surface of a disposable molded plastic cup lid of the drink through type when properly placed thereon. 2: The barrier film of claim 1 wherein the film is made from a food safe film. 3: The barrier film of claim 1 wherein the film exhibits a variety of properties including transparent, translucent, holographic, printable, and/or thermochromic. 4: The barrier film of claim 1 wherein the film is consists of a main annular body with an anterior oriented pull-tab of sufficient length to facilitate removal of the barrier film. 5: The barrier film of claim 1 wherein the film is consists of a main annular body with a posterior oriented pull-tab to adhere to the vertical surface wall of a disposable cup lid of the drink through type. 6: The barrier film of claim 1 wherein the film is sealingly engaged, conforms and adheres to the top wall surface of by the means of a low cohesive or repositionable, food safe adhesive. 7: The barrier film of claim 1 wherein the film is made from a biodegradable food safe film. 8: The barrier film of claim 1 wherein the film is made from a compostable food safe film. 9: The barrier film of claim 1 wherein the film is made from a degradable food safe film. 10: The barrier film of claim 1 wherein the film is made from a plant based food safe film. 